How is the National Honor Society valued in a college application? (I’m not talking about the “National Honor ROLL”) Is it worth mentioning in an application?
<p>I was in NJHS in middle school so I really looked forward to join in high school. It wasn't just a club to put on a college application for me. They had a lot of community service opportunities to sign up for so that helped when it comes to volunteer work.</p>
<p>I don't think it counts that much, but it probably depends on your school. At mine, there are like 40 members of NHS, so almost everyone who is applying to competitive colleges from my school will be a member. It will be more noticeable for students who aren't in it. Then again, at other schools, the society might be limited to a much smaller percentage, in which case it would carry more weight.</p>
<p>It doesn't count much unless you're an officer of some sort.</p>
<p>whoa, isn't it hard to get it? I thought you had to exhibit all the traits, character, service, schoalrship, and else to get in. Don't teachers evauate you to see whether you're NHS material?</p>
<p>at my school everybody gets in</p>
<p>at mine it's totally different. Not only do you need to have the grades (88 average- not hard) but you need to display character( I don't know how- probably integrity, and honor) and service, and leadership to get in.</p>
<p>it depends on the criteria for getting in. at my school you need to have 90+ average, NO cheating whatsoever, and 50 hours of volunteer work each year.</p>
<p>Yeah, but a lot of schools aren't very selective. Thus, NHS doesn't have a lot of prestige in college admissions anymore. Also, its just not very unique.</p>
<p>At some schools such as my D's you are required to do intensive school jobs such as orientations, parent guides, weekly peer tutoring plus outside community service. It is not just a name award so it is worth mentioning. You do have to explain what is involved because there are schools where it is just an award and does not involve a lot of extra time and work.</p>
<p>There's 173 members in mine- only juniors and seniors, which is less than about 1% of each class. Requirements are a 3.8 GPA, 60 hours of minimum service (20 of which must be for NHS activities exclusively) per year, 4 (junior) or 6 (senior) leadership points (one for membership to a club, 2 for club membership and leadership position), clean records, and approval of the teachers. All meetings mandatory, and it's time-consuming (and well worth it). In Orange County, we have some of the highest standards (supposedly).</p>
<p>so it really depends on the school. For us, it's pretty prestigous.</p>
<p>Right. But unless you do a really, really, really good job conveying that in your college applications, they won't think its a bit prestigious.</p>
<p>so how would I do that? I'm definitely not going to talk about that in my essays.</p>
<p>Talk about it in your additional info, most meaningful extracurricular, or in a supplement.</p>
<p>You can list activities in a resume ie peer tutoring, school orientation, specific community service activities and just write NHS next to it. A friend of ours was defered early decision from an ivy because of lack of community service. The rest of her app was amazing with 1500 plus scores ,tons of AP's(you get the picture). When she described all the community service activities involved she was accepted. It is important!</p>
<p>"There's 173 members in mine- only juniors and seniors, which is less than about 1% of each class. "</p>
<p>Not to be nit-picky, but I think you might mean 10%. I doubt there are MORE THAN 17,300 juniors and seniors in your school.</p>
<p>And NHS really isn't as impressive on a college app as it should be. I have friends in different schools who can just up and join NHS if they feel like it, and there are schools in which NHS is a great honor and very hard to get into. My school has about 60 or 70 NHS members, which constitutes basically the top 7% or so of the junior/senior class.</p>
<p>If standards were the same in every school for such an organization, then it would probably be worht a lot more.</p>
<p>The value is relative to the strength of the applicant versus the selectivity of the school. The Ivies, top LACs, Duke, Stanford, MIT, CalTech, and the lot are generally going to accept students who could easily have gone into national honor society (If you can't get an B average (the minimum in many schools) you have a fight to get in regardless)). State schools will accept anyone who had a chance of ever getting in (with the exception of schools like UC Berkley, UCLA, and UMich-Ann Arbor). The distinction comes in between for middle of the range schools, such as Bates, Colby, Hamilton, Franklin and Marshall, Grinell, Whitman, Reed, etc., and only for students on the borderline at those schools. It may also make a difference in a thousand or so aid dollars. Put it down is a section for acedemic honors, in extra space, or on a resume, but don't list it at the top of your activities, unless, of course, you are an officer, regardless of the importance of that position.</p>